Perry touts human-trafficking measures, slams feds (UPDATE)

With a blast at the federal government and lots of love for Rep. Senfronia Thompson, Gov. Rick Perry ceremonially signed two bills taking aim at human trafficking.

The bills were Senate Bill 24 by Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, and HB3000 by Thompson.

Perry said the legislation “gives a voice to the voiceless” while striking out at those who engage in human trafficking, which the governor described as “modern-day slavery.”

Perry said SB 24 puts into law recommendations from Attorney General Greg Abbott’s human-trafficking task force to make prosecution easier and expand penalties, while HB 3000 creates a “super first-degree felony” for those charged with continuous human trafficking, subjecting them to additional sentencing.

He said he hopes traffickers will think “when they understand that it’s their freedom that’s on the line, and the profits that they’re making are on the line.”

Abbott said, “With this law that you are signing into effect today, the penalties are going to be increased and the tools available to law enforcement will be improved so that we will find, we will catch and we will put behind bars these people who are preying upon others, trafficking children women and men, also, and make sure they spend their lives behind bars, never reaching the streets again, never harming another potential victim in this state.”

Van de Putte said the legislation sends a message to “the rest of our country and the world” that Texas is closing the doors to trafficking.

“The criminals are always trying to get one step ahead and they understand they can sell an AK- 47, they can sell a gram of heroin, just once — but they realize that they can sell another human being 10 times a day,” she said.

Thompson said, “This is a strike for the little dogs, the little victims who are out there and get swept into this sea of slavery.”

Perry praised Van de Putte. He introduced Thompson saying that there’s “no one I’ve had in my 26-plus years of being in public service who I’ve admired more, who’s been any more of a mentor to me and many other young legislators.”

After she spoke, Perry said, “Senfronia, you remind me of a Bible passage that said that faith, hope and love – and the greatest of these is love.”

Perry also had some harsh words for the federal government when asked about the law-enforcement measures the Legislature has passed.

“Unfortunately, we’re being forced into doing some things that, frankly, aren’t our responsibility, but the people of the state of Texas’ safety is always going to be paramount, whether it’s a piece of legislation like this one that we passed, or whether its making sure that southbound checkpoints that stop the flow of money and guns into Mexico that’s funding these drug cartels that are raising havoc, not just on the border of Texas, but all across this state and, for that matter, across this country,” Perry said.

UPDATE: More of Perry’s comment, which I neglected to post earlier:

“We’re going to do everything that we can possibly do to keep the people of this state safe, but I hope Americans understand that what Texas is doing on the border from the standpoint of border security, and the effort that we’re making into the urban areas of battling these trans-national gangs is in their best interest, and that they would help us from the standpoint of explaining to our friends in Congress that the effort that has come out of Washington D.C. has been puny at best…”